Students create a character map of the main characters in The Tale of Despereaux. After reading the text, students create a character chart based on information they gleaned from the story. They use this information to write a letter...

Throughout 10 lessons, fourth graders learn how to plan, organize, write, and edit their own personal narratives. In the beginning, young writers come up with ideas of personal experiences and the emotions linked with those experiences....

Students participate in various shared reading and writing activities related to the classic fairytale "The Princess and the Pea." They identify the story elements, write an opening sentence for the beginning of the story, and discuss...

Blend art and family into one lesson with an activity involving oil pastels and watercolors. After viewing a few famous portraits of families, learners create masterpieces that represent their own families.

Students discuss the role of the President.  In this government lesson, students read Arthur Meets the President and complete a story map.  Students develop new vocabulary related to the story.

Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...

Sixth graders read Katherine Paterson's novel, Bridge to Terabithia, and watch a video of Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are. They examine the characters in both stories that share similar characteristics. Students use the...

Get ready to read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 with a lesson about historical fiction. Spanning several centuries, the resource prompts learners to guess the historical era of a story based on a word or phrase...

"What my father had anticipated was now actually happening." The Chosen explores the complicated relationships between parents and their children. Readers make personal connections to Chiam Potok's story, set in Brooklyn's Hasidic...

Can utopia be achieved? Included here are three literature worksheets to pair with Lois Lowry's The Giver. Pupils work in groups to come up with solutions to society's issues, individuals back up a statement related to a topic in the...

Learners discuss what setting represents. In this language arts activity, students review the three elements of setting: where the story takes place, when does the story take place, and is it past, present, or future? Learners create a...

Middle schoolers read various examples of literature. In groups, they brainstorm a list of views that go against what was in one of the stories. They illustrate the opposite ideas and compile them into a class book. They use each other...

Third graders pose questions about the subject of a short story based on the title and cover illustration; then read the story and determine if their questions actually pertained to the story line, and, if so, how the story answered the...

Students analyze folk and fairy tales. For this language arts lesson, students discuss the elements of a tale determining what the differences are between folk and fairy tales. Students then write their own tales using the graphic...

Readers write a formal letter to an author offering an alternative ending to a story the author has written. First, the class reads a story or novel. Upon finishing the reading, they are introduced to the format of a formal letter. They...

In this story plot flow map worksheet, students complete the flow chart through short answers writing about the beginning, middle, climax, and conclusion of the story.

In this graphic organizer worksheet, students identify the key elements in a piece of literature. Students fill out the chart with the story's problem, character's goal, key events and the resolution.

First graders discover predicting and clarifying skills while reading "The Old Woman and Her Pig." During the reading, they check their predictions while evaluating the characters, setting, problems, and solution. On the second day,...

Tenth graders identify certain literary elements such as conflict, and exposition within the text of a variety of studenT books. Aspects of literary elements such as theme, and allusion are explored in this lesson.

Students compare and contrast various versions of the story Cinderella and create their own version. They read versions of Cinderella and identify their components including setting, characters, events/plot, magic and biographical...

Fourth graders apply their understanding of the elements of plot structure and conflict to cooperatively create storyboards and speak effectively as they present their products. They create storyboards for some of the classic Disney...

Fifth graders chart the elements of drama. In this performing arts lesson, 5th graders discuss the role of a playwrite, practice doing some Reader's Theatre scripts, write a paragraph about a problem between two people, and perform...

Learners use the story 'On the Sidewalk Bleeding' to analyze the various conflict types found in literature. In this conflict lesson, students view a PowerPoint about the story and identify the four types of conflict. Learners identify...

In this study guide worksheet, students define vocabulary and literary terms used in "The Interlopers". Students answer comprehension questions based on the reading and fill in a chart with characters and their traits.